M-HOCKEY ROUNDUP: UOIT upsets No.9 ranked McGill Redmen 3-2
Friday, October 10
Guelph 2 @ Western 5
LONDON, Ont. — Freshman Trent Ouellette capped off the Mustangs four-goal first period with the first tally of his OUA career as Western bounced back from an early deficit to win their season-opener 5-2 over the Guelph Gryphons at Thompson Arena on Friday night.
Ouellette's first goal was a bit of a lucky one, coming off a dump-in shot from the blue-line that caught Guelph backstop Keith Hamilton off guard. But as if to make up for that flukey first goal, the first-year player from Drumheller, Alberta outdid himself to start the second frame, keeping on a two-on-one and roofing a bullet of a wrist-shot for the Mustangs fifth and final goal.
After the game, Mustangs' assistant coach David Kontzie pointed out that Ouellette's play on Friday night was indicative of what Western has come to expect from their rookie players so far this year.
"The first year players have played very well all pre-season— pretty much all of them bring something a little bit different in terms of a style of play," Kontzie said post-game. "[Ouellette] had a couple great chances today— he was able to bury a couple goals. The one goal, he probably won't score like that again in the league— their goalie's going to want that back…[but] it's good to see a young player get a couple goals and you get the season off on the right foot for him."
Friday night's game marked the second time that the two teams had faced off this fall, as the Mustangs beat the Gryphons 4-2 on September 19 in a tune-up game—their first meeting since Western eliminated Guelph in the first round of the 2014 OUA playoffs. When asked post-game what the Mustangs might have learned from that preseason battle, Kontzie noted that you can always expect much of the same from the Gryphons.
"Guelph is a very well-coached team," Kontzie said. "They work tremendously hard, they stay within their game plan pretty much every night, so we knew that they were going to come at us [and] we achieved what we wanted to."
Guelph certainly came out hard in the first period, as Western and their netminder, Greg Dodds, had a tough start to the night and the OUA season in general. The sophomore let in an early goal from Guelph's Andres Kopstals—whose shot deflected off the outreached stick of the Mustangs defender— before firing the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty just three minutes later. However, Kontzie was quick to shoot down the notion that nerves played a part in Dodds' tough start, chalking the goal and the penalty up to tough luck instead.
"Dodds isn't a goaltender who can get rattled with nerves or anything like that," Kontzie said. "[The first goal] was a shot that, you know, got by him— call it what you want— I don't think it was nerves at all, it was just one of those things that got by him."
Western would kill off Dodds' infraction and then some, forcing Guelph to take two penalties before they got their own player back. A nifty pass from Alex Micallef to Julian Cimadamore helped draw the second penalty, as Kopstals got his stick up to give the Mustangs a 5-on-3 opportunity and— thanks to a crisp passing play on the ensuing power play from Kyle De Coste to Steve Reese at the side of the net— their first goal of the game.
Reese would be robbed on another one-time chance four minutes later, teeing up the feed from Stefan Salituro on the 2-on-1 only to be robbed by Hamilton's pad. Despite the save, Guelph was forced to take another penalty on the play and Western made them pay for it, as Cimadamore sent the puck into the netting just 17 seconds into the infraction to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game.
Play stoppages were numbered after that tally, with the two teams trading off a number of odd-man rushes before Mustangs' sophomore Noah Schwartz was able to end one of those rushes with a goal, using a screen to beat Hamilton from the high slot. Cimadamore earned the primary assist on the goal and would finish the game with two points, kicking off the 2014 season with a bang after a 2013 season that saw him record just four points in 16 games.
In his first OUA season-opening start, Dodds had a tough kick of the can at times, but he also showed more than a few glimpses of what made him one of the most reliable backups in the OUA last season. His roller-coaster of a night would be exemplified in the last five minutes of the second period when, after having a shot from the goal line bounce in off the back of his leg, he made a highlight reel stop in tight to keep the score at 5-2 heading into the third.
He would continue his strong play in the final frame, making a nice shoulder save on an early 2-on-1 before finishing off a pretty passing play from Guelph with a nice save in close. The Wingham, Ontario native would stop all shots he faced in the third to finish the game with 19 saves and his first win of the 2014 season.
The Mustangs will be back on the ice on Saturday night for their second game in as many nights, as they prepare to welcome the Brock Badgers to Thompson Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Ouellette's play on opening night can be seen as a continuation of a hot-streak that stretches back to his impressive playoff performance last season, which saw him lead his hometown Drumheller Dragons to the AJHL's League Finals while putting up 18 points in 17 games… Guelph's leading scorer from last season, Niklas Huard, was held off the scoresheet on Friday. The North Bay, Ontario native finished with 37 points last year, good enough for eighth in the OUA and 14th in the CIS. For the most part, Western was able to shut Huard down during last year's regular season, limiting him to just one goal over two regular season games, although that goal was the game-winner in Western's heartbreaking 7-6 overtime loss on February 1… The two teams have met for a preseason game in Komoka for the past two seasons, with Western taking both meetings by a score of 4-2… Rookie defenceman Jake Worrad assisted on Reese's first-period goal to earn the first point of his OUA career. He also added his first OUA penalty on the night.
Source: Western Mustangs
Nipissing 2 @ Ryerson 1
TORONTO – The Nipissing Lakers scored twice in the third period to hand the Ryerson Rams their first loss of the season, 2-1 on Friday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Fourth-year Lakers forward Matt Paton (Woodstock, Ont.) would score the game-winner with just under three minutes to play in regulation.
Ryerson's Mitch Gallant (Charlottetown, PEI) opened the scoring on the power play with five minutes remaining in the first period. The Rams would hold the 1-0 lead for over 35 minutes before Nipissing's Colin Campbell scored with just under 11 minutes to go in the third.
"I thought the game was pretty even," said Rams head coach Graham Wise. "You have to be able to protect the lead but we look at it as a team loss. We'll learn from it and move on."
Gallant has tallied four goals in his last two games after netting a hat trick in Thursday's home opener win over Laurentian. Alex Basso (Toronto) picked up an assist on Gallant's goal to extend his point-streak to three games. The first-year defenceman is leading the OUA in scoring with seven assists in three games.
Troy Passingham (Mississauga, Ont.) stopped 33 of 35 shots in the loss, while Nipissing's Kirk Rafuse (Kentville, NS) saved 40 of 41 shots for the win.
Ryerson was 1-for-6 with the man advantage, while the Lakers were 0-for-5 on the power play.
With the loss, the Rams move to 2-1 on the season and will return to action next Thursday, when they visit the Western Mustangs.
Source: Ryerson Rams
York 6 @ Lakehead 4
The York University Lions men's hockey team took a 6-4 victory over the Lakehead Thunderwolves with a natural hat trick from rookie Dylan Smoskowitz on Friday (Oct. 10) in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Smoskowitz (Richmond Hill, Ont.) scored a pair of goals in 2:03 late in the first period to erase a 2-0 deficit, and he added his third just 20 seconds into the second period to give the Lions their first lead of the game.
The Thunderwolves opened up the scoring just two minutes in with a goal by Carson Dubchak, and a two-way assist by E.J. Faust and Brennan Dubchack.
The Thunderwolves scored again six minutes later with a goal by Cody Alcock and an assist by David Quesnele.
The Lions were falling behind until Smoskowitz (Richmond Hill, Ont.) scored his first with assists to Jay Meloff (Markham, Ont.) and Mark Cross (Strasbourg, Sask.) at 15:51 to put the Lions back into the game, and his tying marker was assisted by Reid Jackman (Etobicoke, Ont.) and Shayne Rover (Newmarket, Ont.).
At the end of the first period, the Lions were able to tie the scoring 2-2, shattering the lead of the Thunderwolves.
After Smoskowitz's early goal in the second, the Thunderwolves never backed down as Keith Grondin scored an assisted goal from Jason Grecica and Kelin Ainsworth at 4:27 of the second period, tying the game once again.
However, only 12 seconds later Colton Vannucci (Calgary) scored with assists by Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.) and Mikhel Poldma (North York, Ont.), putting the Lions in the lead for good.
Vannucci got another goal at 10:26 on a power play to give the Lions a 5-3 lead. Smoskowitz got his fourth point of the night on an assist, while Corey Scott (Calgary) also earned an assist.
The Thunderwolves didn't go down without a fight as Faust scored an assisted goal from Mitch Fillman and Nathan Bruyere at 13:16, threatening the Lions' victory. But that was as close as they would get, as Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.) secured the Lions' win as he scored an assisted goal from Rover just before the end of the period.
The Lions held their defence strong in the third period as no goals were scored from either side. The game ended in a total of 36 shots fired from each side to the opposition's net.
The Lions are in fourth place in the OUA West standings with a score of 2-1-0, while the Thunderwolves fell to 0-3-0 with the loss.
Up next for the Lions is another game against the Thunderwolves in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Saturday night (Oct. 11) at 7:30pm.
Source: York Lions
Carleton 2 @ Concordia 5
The Carleton Ravens were defeated 5-2 Friday night by the Concordia Stingers.
The Stingers opened the scoring at the 19-second mark of the first period. Joe Pleckaitis tied the game four minutes later, but Concordia went on to score two more goals before the end of the period to jump out to a 3-1 lead.
The Ravens took six minor penalties in the first making it difficult to gain any momentum. Concordia scored early in the second to make it 4-1. Pleckaitis scored his second of the game midway through the second to cut the lead in half, but the Stingers scored a fifth goal late in the second. Despite outshooting Concordia 13-4 in the third the Ravens were unable to complete the comeback.
The Ravens, ranked eighth nationally, are now 2-1-0 on the season. The Ravens will have little time to ponder the loss as they are back in action Saturday afternoon against UQTR.
Source: Carleton Ravens
Windsor 3 @ Waterloo 2
It's only fitting that a man nicknamed "The Bus" threw up the first major road block of the season for the high-flying Waterloo Warriors offense.
Windsor goaltender Parker Van Buskirk made 32 saves, and Saverio Posa scored a late third period goal to pace the visiting Lancers to a 3-2 victory over Waterloo at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Friday night.
Andrew Smith (Kitchener) and Colin Behenna (Waterloo) scored third period goals for the Warriors, who fall to 2-1-0 on the young season. Matt Beaudoin and Paul Bezzo added tallies for the Lancers, who stay perfect at 2-0-0. Mike Morrison (Hamilton), Van Buskirk's teammate on the Kitchener Rangers in 2008-09, made 24 saves in the loss for the Warriors.
The first period was not without its drama, as the physical play immediately escalated between the two rivals. Van Buskirk committed larceny on a number of occasions, including during an extended 5-on-3 man advantage that the Warriors couldn't capitalize on. But one thing the first frame was lacking was a score – the teams remained knotted at 0-0 after 20 minutes.
The second period saw the visitors push back a little more, and Morrison was solid early on. But with the Lancers on a power play, they finally got one past the Warriors keeper when Beaudoin neatly deflected Posa's waist-high point shot past Morrison. The Warriors had some opportunities late in the stanza, including a partial breakaway from Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge), but Van Buskirk held the score at 1-0 after two periods.
The Lancers extended their lead to 2-0 in the opening minutes of the third period, when Bezzo used a period of sustained Lancer pressure to find a weak spot in the coverage at the top of the slot and set up shop awaiting a pass. Kyle Hope found him, and Bezzo cranked a one-timer past Morrison's blocker to double the Windsor lead.
The Warriors came storming back though, scoring twice in less than two minutes to draw even. First, Smith rapped home a loose puck off a Justin Larson (Buckhorn) shot that just eluded a diving Van Buskirk. Then, on the power play, Behenna smacked a rebound through the five-hole to knot the game up at 2.
However, the Lancers would not be denied on this night. With less than five minutes left in regulation, Posa let fly with a shot from the point that appeared to hit something in front before skipping past Morrison. The Warriors came close in the final minute of the game, but a bouncing puck was cleared off the goal line and the Lancers secured victory.
The Warriors will now enjoy a rare one-game weekend before turning their focus to their first road game of the season – next Friday night at York. Puck drop is slated for 7pm.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
McGill 4 @ Queen's 3
KINGSTON, Ont. - The Queen's men's hockey team opened the 2014-15 season at the Memorial Centre with a last second loss to No.9 McGill University after surrendering a powerplay goal in the final minute of the game.
The Gaels found themselves trailing early on in the game after McGill's Max Le Sieur opened the scoring five minutes into the first frame. Queen's knotted the score five minutes later on a goal from Braeden Corbeth (Oakville, Ont.). The Redmen broke the deadlock as the first period came to a close on a goal from David Rose.
McGill quickly added to their lead as the second period began, giving the Redmen a 3-1 lead. The Gaels capitalized on two powerplay opportunities as Eric Ming (Williamstown, Ont.) and Tyler Moore (Winnipeg) scored back-to-back powerplay tallies to even the score heading into the third.
Both squads battled hard in the final frame as the teams looked to earn a season-opening victory. McGill took advantage of a tripping penalty called against Warren Steele (Williamsburg, Ont.) the Gaels as Samuel Labrecque buried the game-winning goal with fourteen seconds remaining in regulation.
Goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) started in net for the Gaels, registering 26 saves over his outing. Defenseman Patrick Downe (New Maryland, N.B.) led all Queen's skaters with two points in the game.
The Gaels (0-1-0) return to action on Thursday when they travel to Oshawa to take on the UOIT Ridgebacks (1-0-1).
Source: Queen's Gaels
Laurentian 2 @ Toronto 4
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs 4-2 in their 2014-15 season opener on Friday night (Oct. 10) at Varsity Arena.
The Blues opened the scoring late in the first period when third-year defenceman Lane Werbowski fired a puck on net and sophomore Dean Klomp was there to top it in.
U of T held the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of action.
Toronto extended their lead 6:43 into the second period at the end of a penalty kill. Klomp cleared the puck from the Toronto zone, which assistant captain Jeff Brown picked up coming out of the penalty box. The forth-year assistant captain made no mistake on the breakaway, firing the puck five hole for the goal.
Laurentian got on the board six minutes later when Sebastian Leroux fired in his own rebound.
U of T regained the two-goal cushion with five minutes to go in the second frame when third-year defenceman Dylan Heide sent a low shot from the point through traffic and in.
The Blues led 3-1 heading into the final frame.
Both teams traded chances in the third unable to find the back of the net. It wasn't until the final minute of the game that Laurentian's Darcy Haines tipped in a shot on a 6 on 4 opportunity.
Toronto held off the come back as veteran Michael Markovic fired a shot down the ice into the empty net.
Fifth-year netminder Garrett Sheehan was spectacular in his 2014-15 debut, posting 33 saves, including several during the two-minute Laurentian 6-on-4 opportunity.
The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow night (Oct. 11) as they host the Nipissing Lakers at Varsity Arena. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Other Scores: RMC 1 @ UQTR 6
Saturday, October 11
The shutout was Dodds' second of his OUA career and helped him earn his second straight win, which puts him almost halfway on his way to his total of five during the 2013-14 season. Backing up Josh Unice last year, Dodds showed a ton of promise, posting a 2.18 goals against average and a .929 save percentage through nine regular season games.
But Dodds wasn't the only Western player that impressed in the back-to-back. After the game Mustangs' head coach Clarke Singer talked about what he saw from his team during their opening two games of the season.
"I thought it was a pretty good weekend for us overall and a good start to the season," Singer said. "I thought coming back from [the team's pre-season trip to] Alaska last week, we were pretty tired and I wondered how these two games would go. But you know the guys stuck to the game plan and I thought they did a great job last night and tonight."
Luke Karaim was particularly solid for the Mustangs, turning in a two-goal effort for his first two points of the season. He was helped out by fellow sophomore Noah Schwartz, who added an assist on Karaim's first goal and is quietly putting together a stellar start to the season with three points in two games. The two players didn't factor much into the Mustangs offence last season, totaling just eight points between the two of them, but seem more than happy to change that this season as they take on bigger roles with the team.
Speaking of offence, Brock showed up for Saturday's game sporting a bit of a different roster than last year, with last year's leading scorers in Matt Abercrombie and Thomas Stajan having moved on. But even with their absence Brock has a number of talents to look forward to, not the least of which is third-year centre Andrew Radjenovic.
While Radjenovic, like the rest of his teammates, wasn't able to get on the scoresheet, he did give Dodds a tough time on the night, highlighted by a slick outside-in move on a Western defender in the second period that left him all alone for a chance. But Dodds was there to make one of his 14 saves in the period, a recurring theme on a weekend that saw him turn aside 50 of the 52 shots he faced to establish a .962 save percentage.
Those 14 second-period shots came courtesy of four straight Western penalties— two of which occurred within 33 seconds of each other to give the Badgers a one minute and 27 second 5-on-3 with two of Western's most reliable defence men, Colin Macdonald and Stephen Gaskin, in the box. But the Badgers power play units just couldn't seem to solve Western's penalty kill, which has yet to give up a goal through two games and ten opportunities this season.
For the most part, however, it was Brock that found themselves in penalty trouble on Saturday night. The second period was the only one that didn't see them head to the box, as they took three straight penalties in the first period before adding four more in the third. Goalkeeper Real Cormier was absolutely stellar on the night, robbing the Mustangs on chance after chance to keep his team in the game, especially during Western's seven power play opportunities.
After being shut out on the man advantage through the first two periods of play, the Mustangs would finally solve Brock's penalty kill in the third, as Karaim took a couple of whacks at an airborne puck in front of the net before he was finally able to bat it in for his second goal in as many nights. After the game, Singer spoke about how the Mustangs are adjusting to life without two key pieces of last year's power play in Daniel Erlich and Zach Harnden.
"I think it's taken some steps," Singer said. "We changed the format and structure of it this year as well and you know it's taken a little bit of time for the guys to get used to it. But I thought they moved the puck very well tonight— we had some good looks and some good chances, I mean we just got the one power play goal but I thought we had a number of other good looks."
One of the new members of the power play unit is freshman and former London Knight Jake Worrad, who looked comfortable manning the point on Saturday and wasn't afraid to use his big shot through traffic. Two other big power play weapons in Steve Reese and Kyle De Coste have appeared to click extremely well in the first few games, and their chemistry gave Cormier all he could handle Saturday, highlighted by a slick pass from Reese to De Coste in the third that saw Brock's goaltender have to come up with a big glove save in tight.
The Mustangs will have a bit of a break before they take back to the ice at Thompson Arena on Thursday to face off against the Ryerson Rams. Post-game, Singer spoke about what he expects when the Rams roll into town.
"We've got a great team coming in here— Ryerson is very dynamic," Singer said. "They had a great recruiting year, they're a very, very offensive team so it's going to be a real tough team on Thursday."
Notes
Colten Mayor's second period goal was his first in the OUA and it also marked the first OUA point for Trevor Warnaar, who assisted on the effort along with Matt Marantz… Veteran defenceman Matt Paltridge didn't have a point on Saturday after recording an assist on Friday but he continued to show why he's one of the most reliable defencemen in the OUA, breaking up a number of Brock chances and showing off his above-average skating ability… Dodds is no stranger to shutouts early in the season, as he kicked off his OUA career last year with a 29-save shutout against Laurier on October 31… The Mustangs are now on a three-game winning streak against Brock after going 2-0 against the Badgers last season…
Then at 14:30, Wolves' forward Ryan Magill scored what turned out to be the winner when he jumped on a loose puck and fired it up and over Perugini to give Lakehead a 2-0 lead, with Mike Hammond and Nathan Bruyere getting the helpers.
Although Lakehead controlled the play for most of the first period and the rest of the game for that matter, Wolves' goalie Justin McDonald came up with some big saves when called upon.
The second period was scoreless, but some big hits were dished out by Lakehead's Mike Quesnele, Nathan Cull and the Dubchak brothers, Carson and Brennan, in a very physical middle stanza.
Trevor Peterson beat McDonald with a high wrist shot 5:40 into the third period to spoil his shutout bid, but Lakehead restored its two-goal lead at 13:40 when David Quesnele walked right in a rifled the puck past Perugini while the Wolves had the man-advantage. Carson Dubchak and E.J. Faust were credited with the assists.
Hammond put the icing on the cake for the Thunderwolves when he scored an empty-netter in the final minute.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1. Ryan Magill, Lakehead
2. Mike Hammond, Lakehead
3. Justin McDonald, Lakehead
With the loss, the Blues drop to 1-1-0 after their first weekend of OUA action.
Fourth-year U of T forward Paul Van De Velde opened the scoring with 23 seconds remaining in the first period when he wired a shot into the top corner of the net. Toronto was up 1-0 at the first intermission.
Nipissing evened the score 1:09 into the second period when Brogan Bailey tapped in a rebound.
The Lakers looked as though they would score again a minute later but Brett Willows came up with a beautiful sprawling save to keep the game deadlocked.
The Lakers did go ahead with two goals one minute apart midway through the game. At the 9:08 mark of the second period, Craig Campbell one-timed a 2-on-1 pass from Brock Morrison into the net. Bailey then put the visitor's up by two, putting in his own rebound off a weird bounce off the back boards.
Toronto's Patrick Marsh almost cut the deficit when his shot rang off the cross bar with four minutes remaining in the second, but the Bailey notched his third of the game, a powerplay marker, off a pass from Matt Paton to give Nipissing a 4-1 lead heading into the final frame.
Nipissing's Mitch Deacon added a short handed goal in the third period to round out the 5-1 victory.
Willows posted 19 saves in the loss.
The Varsity Blues return to action next Friday, October 17 as they host the Lakehead Thunderwolves at Varsity Arena. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
UOIT is 2-0-1 to start the season, having recorded points in their first three games. The Redmen fall to 1-1-0, as they beat Queen's 4-3 on Friday night in Kingston.
Freshman goaltender Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) was spectacular in net, as he made 43 saves including 16 in the third period as the Ridgebacks shocked the nationally ranked Redmen. O'Neill may have recorded his best save of the night in the closing minutes of the game, as he made a sprawling save to stop a McGill one-timer from the top of the crease to keep the Ridgebacks in front. O'Neill is 2-0-1 in his first three OUA starts with a .916 save percentage.
UOIT's offence heated up in the second period, as they scored all three of their goals in the middle frame. Jordan Ramsay (Pickering, Ont.) got the Ridgebacks on the board five minutes in, but McGill's Patrick Delisle-Houde struck back less than a minute later.
The turning point in the game came with five minutes to go in the second when defender Jake Logan (Napanee, Ont.) fed Colt Kennedy (Ajax, Ont.) up the middle. Kennedy would go on and split the McGill defence and beat McGill goaltender Karel St. Laurent for his first of the season. UOIT would follow up Kennedy's goal with one more two minutes later, when Mike Robinson (Stouffville, Ont.) recorded his first career OUA goal, with Logan and Mike Whiteside (Ajax, Ont.), picking up their second assists of the period.
McGill's Jonathan Brunelle would cut the Ridgebacks lead to 3-2 midway through the final stanza, but that is as close as the Redmen would come as UOIT would hold on for the one-goal victory.
Both power plays proved to be ineffective as they each went 0-for-4.
Guelph, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphon men's hockey team came up just short Saturday night losing 3-2 versus the defending OUA champion Windsor Lancers. The Gryphons fall to 0-3-1 while the Lancers improve to 3-0-0.
Windsor would open the scoring just over two minutes into the game when Blake Blondeel (Tilbury, Ont.) would beat Guelph's rookie goalie Andrew D'Agostini (Scarborough, Ont.) to make it 1-0 Lancers. Later in the period, the Lancers were called for boarding and tripping just 33 seconds apart, giving the Gryphons a 5-on-3 advantage for nearly a minute and a half. Unfortunately for the Gryphons, they were not able to capitalize with the two man advantage and would head to the 2nd period trailing 1-0.
The Lancers boast one of the top goalies in the OUA in Parker Van Buskirk (Windsor, Ont.), but in the 2nd, Guelph's top line would find a way to beat him. Former Gryphon rookie of the year Teal Burns (Victoria, B.C.) would set up last year's leading scorer for the Gryphs, Nicklas Huard (North Bay, Ont.) who would let go a hard shot from the top of the circle to tie things at 1-1. The Gryphons would then take the lead after first year player Andres Kopstal (Toronto, Ont.) would score for the second straight game to make it 2-1 Guelph. But the Lancers would get that one back before the end of the period. Eric Noel (St. Joachim, Ont.) would be sent in all alone for Windsor and he would make no mistake, beating D'Agostini to make it a 2-2 game heading to the 3rd.
In tight games like this, you cannot afford to make mistakes late - but unfortunately for the Gryphons that is exactly what happened. A costly turnover by the Gryphons allowed Drew Palmer (Tecumseh, Ont.) to pot the winning goal for the Lancers. It was an evenly fought matchup all night long, reflected by the final shot tally which was 31-31, but in the end was another tough loss for the Gryphons.
The Gryphons will hit the ice again On Thursday October 16th against the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks at the Gryphon Centre, with the puck set to drop at 7:30 p.m.
